Licenses of 262 pilots questionable: Federal Minister of Aviation

Baaghi TV: There are more revelations about fake licenses. Federal Minister for Aviation, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, has said that the licenses of 262 pilots are questionable, including 141 captains of PIA, 10 captains of Syrian Air and 9 captains of Air Blue.

Inquiries have been completed against 148 pilot grounds and 128 of national airlines, 5 officers who issued fake licenses have been suspended, all recruitment have been made in the last two terms.

Talking to media in Islamabad, he vowed to make Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) the world’s leading airline by 2023, saying the company had verified the fake licenses of 28 pilots.

Ghulam Sarwar Khan said that all the pilots, the people against whom inquiries were made, or the people who were recruited are all pre-2018 people. I would like to clarify that after 2018, we have not recruited any new candidates in PIA or Aviation Division and have not taken any such exams. He added that what has been happening in the last two periods, some people are talking about its effects and negative aspects globally, but, to save a patient, a patient also requires surgery and/or chemo.

Continuing, he said, “We have started reforms, trying to fix where things were going wrong. In the past, the previous Chief Justice took Suo moto to various degrees in various departments of the PIA.” He said that in the process of verification till 2019, there were a total of 648 people in Cabin Crow 119, Cockpit 16, Engineering 98 and General Administration 415 people.

He said that when the scrutiny of pilots’ licenses was started, there were 753 commercial pilots in Pakistan, 107 Pakistani pilots working in foreign airlines and a total of 860 pilots. He said that 450 pilots were working in PIA. Airbnb had 87 pilots in 87 sirens, 68 in Shaheen, about 101 pilots working in different airlines and flying clubs and the total number is 753.

He said that 262 pilots have been questioned, 141 in PIA, 9 in Airblue, 10 in Serena, 17 in former Shaheen and 85 others. These are all suspects. There are 121 pilots whose forensics revealed that one of their leaflets was bogus and someone else sat in their place and handed over the leaflet. Ghulam Sarwar Khan said that there are 21 pilots with three bogus leaflets, 15 pilots with 4 bogus leaflets, 11 pilots with 5 bogus leaflets, 11 pilots with 6 bogus leaflets, 10 pilots with 7 bogus leaflets and 34 pilots with 8 bogus leaflets.

It should be noted that the interim report of the PIA plane crash was presented in the National Assembly. Ghulam Sarwar said that the responsibility of the accident also falls on the crew cabin and air traffic controller, those responsible will not be able to escape accountability. The pilots of the plane were medically fit to fly the plane. The pilots did not indicate any technical fault during the flight. According to the initial report, the plane was 100% fit for flight. The plane was at an altitude of 7220 feet at the time of landing, controller three times drew the pilot’s attention to the altitude, it is on record that the plane’s landing gear was opened.

Ghulam Sarwar said that the landing gear of the plane was opened at 10 nautical miles, the landing gear was closed again at 5 nautical miles, the plane kept rubbing on the runway, the engine was severely affected, the pilot flew the plane again, he did not follow instructions, rather the pilots ignored the instructions of the air traffic control, the interim investigation report revealed the negligence of the control tower and the pilot, the ATC did not give instructions even after the friction of the plane.